Preliminary Knesset vote backs NIS 20 million for rehabilitation of Gaza border council

Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

The Knesset votes 32-0 to approve in a preliminary reading a bill proposed by Likud MK Sasson Sassi Guetta requiring the Tekuma Directorate, which focuses on rehabilitating Israel’s south, to allocate NIS 20 million ($6.2 million) to the Gaza-adjacent Sdot Negev Regional Council in 2025-2026 in order to meet previous commitments for the rehabilitation of an area hard hit by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

“Over the past few years, the Council has been given professional assurances and coordination from government officials, but these have not been anchored in a binding legal provision, which does not guarantee certainty, budgetary stability and the required multi-year planning,” the bill’s explanatory notes state.

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